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Saturday, March 31, 2012

A friend of the blog lent NerdLacquer's Cyance Friction for my swatching pleasure. This was such a fun color to wear, and the formula was easy to apply.

Take a look (all pics are 2 coats):

Natural light, indoors

Natural light, indoors

Taken outside

Outside

I found the texture a bit gritty, but I expect a coat of good topcoat would take care of that.

You see the pretty gold glitter? I couldn't figure out how to get it OFF the side of the bottle and onto my nails without shaking the bottle.

Look what happened when I started to remove the polish:

All these different colors and glitters were revealed! I saw more glitter and a silvery-purpley shimmer. I wish more of these colors were visible before removal.

Out of curiosity, I paired Cyance Friction with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and NYC East Village on alternating fingers to see if it would look any different:

Indoors, natural light

The China Glaze base gave much more of a greenish appearance to the overall color, while NYC didn't alter the look of Cyance Friction too much.

I ended up liking this color much more than I thought I would. It also made me very curious about their other polishes...and there went an hour of my time searching the Etsy store and looking at other swatches. I definitely think NerdLacquer has found itself a new fan!

Nails of the Day

Today I chose to wear the very pretty Zoya Jana. Jana comes from Zoya's Smoke and Mirrors collection (Fall 2011). I have to say, summer and fall collections are my favorite and I think Smoke and Mirrors hit it out the park. I like this collection because so many of the colors are flattering on my skin tone. In addition to Jana, I have Petra, Anja, Nimue, Yara, Neeka and Jem.

Now, back to Jana. This is a "medium nude putty creme with grey, mauve and purple tones." You have to be careful with any polish that can be described as "putty" in color, because putty done incorrectly can be boring and unflattering. Zoya got it right this time, and it was my choice for the day.

The Mani:

For this mani, I started with a base of Zoya Get Even, 2 coats of Jana, and kicked up the shine with CND Super Shiney.

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CND Super Shiney doesn't like to photograph in direct sunlight. I had to take these pictures several times because my camera wasn't happy with the incredible gloss.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

You never can have enough Zoya (that's my justification at least). Can't wait to get my hands on Arizona, Reagan and Wednesday. Once this collection is released tomorrow, I'll officially be TWO collections behind. I still don't have any from True yet...my next Zoya order is going to be a doozy.

Rescue Beauty Lounge fans everywhere, rejoice! The company is set to release their 13-month labor of love known as The Fan Collection at the end of April. RBL founder Ji Baek gave four "ReBeLs" the opportunity to make their dream polish a reality. The result is what you see above.

Although I like all of them, I'm not so sure they'd all be flattering on me. If you're into blue, ikb:2012 should be your pick as it is supposed to be the truest blue of blues. I'd love to try Halcyon or Aqua Lily, but would be more likely to snap up 2009's Scrangie first (take a look at GiMiKd Girl's pretty swatches here).

The Fan Collection pretties will retail at $20.

On a related note, I just saw they have Killa Red back in stock. OMG. You have no idea how much I've been wanting that color! Someone needs to step in and save me from myself! I just don't spend that kind of money on nail polish. I mean I do have some limits. I may have to break with tradition though. Think I'm crazy? Image search it NOW. I'm not even a red kinda girl but that red is IT.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Zoya Kendal comes from Zoya's Feel Collection (Winter 2011). Initially, I wasn't excited about the colors. I have a lot of neutrals and didn't think I needed to add more. But being the Zoya fan that I am, I purchased a couple anyway. Now, I think I need the whole collection. Kendal is one of three I have so far - or is it two? I can't remember.

What I do know is that this one is a keeper. This soft, grayed out lavender cream is work-safe and just plain pretty.

When I put Kendal on, I couldn't stop looking at my nails. It really looks nice. I'm afraid I couldn't do it justice in the photos.

I played around and added Essie's Kisses (Spring 2011). I prefer it alone, but here's a pic so you can see the difference:

Did I do a good job of trying to hide my funky cuticles? I tried. After having a horrible experience with cuticle clippers at a nail salon years ago, I won't let anyone near them.

*BONUS (blurry) PIC* Check out my princess bling. Mini-me loved it so we snapped a pic.

First up, I have an oldie but goodie. Zoya Freja was one of my first Zoya purchases. I chose it after finding a blog post of Mary J. Blige wearing the color. It looked good on her, so I thought it would work or me. It's described as "a smoky, shimmering gunmetal gray with hints of blue and sprinkled with silver." That description is spot on. (Click the first pic to enlarge and you'll see what I mean.) I really like it, I just haven't had an occasion to wear it.

*Please ignore the imperfections. Have you ever taken a close-up of your nails? The camera sees EVERYTHING!

I find Zoya's brushes easy to use, and the formula was great. I was ready to go with two coats.

Is it a keeper? Yes! Don't you see the heart in the pic? That means I like it :) Pick it up at www.zoya.com

Woohoo! My very first post! I've been wanting to do this a long time, so here I am. Have you ever fallen in love with a nail polish and purchased it, only to discover that the color is a total fail because it doesn't complement your skin tone? If you're anything like me, you hate wasting money and would prefer to make the right color choice the first time. I usually conduct an image search of my favorite colors before purchasing, but in doing so, I find relatively few swatches from women who share my skin tone.

I created this blog to help anyone with similar issues, and to inspire purchasing decisions of lacquer lovers worldwide! Also, I love a deal, so I'll let you know what I find!